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Sunday, November 30, 2014

Scunthorpe United say they lost £1.1million last season and expect a similar outcome for this season's trading. The Irons lost their League One status the previous summer, but lost just 4% of turnover. However the loss was nearly three times that originally expected at the previous AGM with the club again spending more on wages than their total turnover.Former Forest Green and Leeds manager Dave Hockaday has joined Swindon Supermarine in an advisory role. The former Watford coach joins the Southern League Division One South and West side with them in 16th place having one only one home match all season.Banbury United have announced that the ownership of the club has reverted to the company that owned it prior to September 2012, when Jed McCrory took control. A brief statement adds: 'The club does not wish to go into specific details but advise that the necessary legal paperwork and action to effect this has now been completed.'

Hayes and Yeading have warned they could shut in three months without finding new investment. The club chairman told an open forum on Thursday night that the club are paying £1,000 a match to play at Maidenhead, more than they can afford, after a three year groundshare at Woking. They need £300,000 to finally complete their long delayed new stadium, which had floodlights installed nearly three years ago but the main stand is still a shell.

Hereford United chairman Andy Lonsdale refused to take part in a discussion about the club on Five Live's Non-League Programme which was recorded last night.

The club is due to make its eleventh High Court appearance tomorrow morning and according to BBC Hereford and Worcester's sports editor Trevor Owens the majority of supporters want an end to the saga but this might not happen.

"There is a feeling that barristers representing some of those who attached themselves to the winding up petition are going to play hard-ball with this one," said Owens.

"There is a feeling this could be nearer the end of the road than some of the previous hearings.

"But we've all been down this road a few times."

Owens also noted that going out of the FA Trophy yesterday had cut off another income stream for the club.

Presenter Caroline Barker then asked about the likelyhood of an end on Monday.

"We contacted Andy Lonsdale to come on the show or to provide a statement, but we've had no response."

Both Martin Watson of HUST and Kevin Rye from Supporters Direct then joined the discussion.

"About 80% of the fans are staying away," said Watson.

"The simple fact is that the promises made by the current owners of the club haven't been met.

"We know of about 50 who are classed as football creditors who are still owed money which shouldn't be.

"And there are players this season who are walking out because out as well because they haven't been paid."

Rye said that people who are owed money should press to be paid that money in full.

"I hope the club goes on Monday because it's not really the club that people support.

"One hopes that the fans and the city can then work together.

"We're already working with the fans to get the pre-thinking done about how the club will be run when it's owned by the supporters and community.

"The old thing needs putting out of its misery.

"The city of Hereford needs a chance to do things for itself and not with people who don't just not belong there but are doing complete and utter damage to everything good about Hereford United Football Club."

Watson questioned whether it was humane to carry on.

"It has to end one way or the other.

"Either by this £1.5M investment coming in and clearing the debts or it has to be shut down."

Saturday, November 29, 2014

Andy Lonsdale has admitted to The Guardian's David Conn that he knows who sent the voicemails published earlier in the week.

Despite a club statement labelling the voicemails as 'fake', Lonsdale has now admitted they are genuine but remains adamant that the voice is not that of Tommy Agombar, with the paper reporting:

'Lonsdale accepted the voicemails were from an associate of theirs who, he said, is no longer involved, but emphatically insisted it was not Agombar. The messages were “disgraceful,” Lonsdale accepted'

Martin Foyle has also confirmed to the paper that he has rejoined the winding-up petition after the settlement he agreed with Hereford United was not met.

Hereford United, the bullish football club forever loved for their gleeful 1972 FA Cup giant-killing of Newcastle
United, face a winding up petition on Monday that could bring 90 years
of longevity to a sad collapse. In financial difficulties for two years before relegation from the Conference to the Southern League this summer
for a refusal to pay a £350,000 bond, it will the latest hearing for a
petition first issued in April for money owed to the former manager
Martin Foyle.
Under new owners, from east London, with patchy records who are
bitterly opposed and boycotted by much of the fanbase, the club has been
told that creditors’ patience is paper thin, and Her Majesty’s Revenue
is pushing for a winding up. Foyle, with whom a settlement was
previously reached, has joined this petition again after the club
defaulted on his payments. He told the Observer that he does
not blame the owners, who have put money in to pay some of the bills and
pull together a team, but reserves his ire for the previous regime led
by the locally-born chairman David Keyte, under whom the club failed to
pay the manager, players and many others, amassing debts of £1.2m.
“Whatever the fans’ views,” Foyle said, “my issues aren’t with the new
people.”
That is not a perspective shared by many around Edgar Street, the
club’s home since it was founded by a merger in 1924, where matches are
now being shunned by many fans and the mood is disconsolate, rancorous
and, increasingly, toxic.
At the end of May, Keyte ceded ownership of the club for £2 to Tommy
Agombar, described as an entrepreneur and developer, from east London.
Supporters, who have forensically researched their new owners in ways
that were beyond fans’ groups in the pre-internet age, swiftly
discovered Agombar had a past conviction for lorry theft and had served
time in prison. That made him not “fit and proper” to own or be a
director of a football club under the Football Association rules, and according to a speech in parliament by the local Conservative MP, Jesse Norman,
Agombar’s son, Tommy jr, who was banned by the Essex FA, and Philip
Gambrill, who had been subject to personal insolvency proceedings, were
similarly prohibited from being directors.
Ownership passed to Alpha Finance, described as dealers in
“distressed debt”. Stepping in as a director, and currently the most
public face of the club, came Andrew Lonsdale, a friend and advisor of
Agombar’s. In a long interview with the Observer, Lonsdale
acknowledged that the information the fans found out about him is also
correct. Although he insists he and his partners have taken over
Hereford because of the club’s heritage and potential and that they
believe they can revive it, his record has only fed fans’ bleakest
nightmares.
The 50-year-old has worked in the haulage and construction industry
and, for 17 years, ran his local non-league club, Feltham FC. Many of
his companies have been dissolved over time; he went bankrupt in 2007
and was disqualified from being a company director from October 2006 for
six years. The grim fate of the Feltham Arena, the former home of
Feltham FC, is the one that most chills fans of Hereford because there
is a property development opportunity at each end of Edgar Street.
Feltham moved out, with the intention to build a new stadium on the
site, and Lonsdale, whose company was to carry out works, was given
permission to import 15,692m³ of soil on to the ground.
After years in which a procession of lorries dumped rubble to the
bitter complaints of neighbours, the London borough of Hounslow mounted
an investigation. Its task force found that 73,485m³ of soil and rubble
had been dumped, five times more than permitted. The council report said
Lonsdale had “a clear conflict of interest” between his position at the
club and his involvement in the company paid to do the work. They did
not rule out that Lonsdale had made significant money from his company
being paid by other construction firms to dump their excavated waste,
although Lonsdale maintains that the delays and other costs meant he
lost money on the saga. No new stadium was built, and the site stood as a
derelict dumping ground for years, with the club merged with Bedfont.
In the course of its investigations, Hounslow found that Lonsdale
had, in 2008, been convicted of illegally dumping 600 lorry loads of
waste on green belt land within South Bucks district council. Lonsdale
says the FA were made aware of that conviction but has cleared him to be
a director of Hereford under its owners and directors test, something
the FA confirmed, indicating the conviction is considered spent under
its rules.
For the campaigning Save Edgar Street website, and the Hereford United Supporters Trust,
this record does not inspire confidence in Lonsdale, Agombar and their
associates from whom Lonsdale said they are seeking to raise the
necessary investment in time for Monday and continue in charge of the
club.
The volume of rancour increased this week with the public airing of
threatening and abusive voicemails left on the telephone of a supporter
who had texted a rude message. Lonsdale accepted the voicemails were
from an associate of theirs who, he said, is no longer involved, but
emphatically insisted it was not Agombar. The messages were
“disgraceful,” Lonsdale accepted, saying he did not condone them, but
argued that he, Agombar and their partners are being subjected to an
excessive level of abuse and suspicion on some messageboards.
Lonsdale says they have invested a significant sum and are seeking to
raise more to fend off the petition because they believe they can
restore Hereford to the Football League, partly by identifying promising
players who can be sold on. “We are being painted as the bad guys,” he
said, “but we took the club over for £2, immediately faced a winding up
petition, and have put a small fortune into the club to keep it going.
“If we had raped and pillaged the club, sold the assets, I would hold
my hands up, but we have done the opposite; we’ve put money in,
borrowed money, and taken on a huge task.”
Martin Watson, the vice-chair of HUST and a lifelong fan who has put
money into the club in the past, said there is too little trust in the
owners and if the club goes bust, the trust hopes to be involved in
resurrecting it, still playing at Edgar Street. “Many supporters believe
the club died at the end of last season. They don’t recognise this
season’s Hereford United as the one they followed,” he said.
All of which is a world of heartbreak from Ronnie Radford’s 35-yard screamer against Newcastle in 1972, and the pitch invasion by hordes of ecstatic boys in parkas that, for 42 years, has always brought a smile to the faces of football lovers.

Hereford United chairman Andy Lonsdale stopped BN's photographer from taking pictures at this afternoon's FA Trophy Tie which Sutton United won 2-1.

As the match was about to kick-off, the photographer was approached by Lonsdale along with Gail Gibbons.

"We don't want you here," said Lonsdale.

Gibbons, by this time aided by assistant manager Neil Phelps who seemed more intent on adding muscle to the discussion than bothering with the game that was about to kick-off, added that BN is not supporting the club in particular she said "by putting on Bulls News how to join the creditors list."

Lonsdale was then reminded that the photographer was a shareholder in the club and also a creditor of the club.

Former Bulls midfielder Glen Southam returned to Edgar Street to end Hereford United's FA Trophy hopes with a 2-1 defeat to Sutton United.

The veteran midfielder pounced with four minutes remaining to settle the tie, with Jon Taylor's men playing most of the second half with only ten men after loanee Josh Yorweth was sent off for a poor tackle. They had taken the lead through a bizarre own goal before Ricky Wellard equalised before half time.

Sutton had a chance to put the game beyond doubt with an injury time penalty, but Southam's spot kick was saved.

Last season Hereford United fans shaved their heads, auctioned
memorabilia and organised charity walks in an attempt to stave off
bankruptcy. This season many die-hards are doing something very
different; they are staying away.

The Bulls, fabled for their FA Cup giant-killing exploits, have
become one of those cursed clubs torn apart by the arrival of a
controversial owner, setting fan against fan and exposing the lack of
business safeguards in the English game.
On Monday the club’s
owners are due in court to answer another winding-up order, the latest
part of a saga that shows no sign of abating but accelerated towards
crisis when the club were thrown out of the Conference in the summer.
Hereford
are now in the Evo-Stik Southern League, a level they long thought
behind them. Equally humiliatingly, they were bundled out of the FA Cup –
in which they made their name 42 years ago by knocking out Newcastle
United – by Ellistown & Ibstock of the East Midlands Counties League
in the first qualifying round. Most damaging of all, Hereford are
attracting gates of barely 400.
Five years ago the club were in
League One. But cash was already tight and after being relegated they
were taken over in 2010 and David Keyte, a local accountant who is said
to have played for their reserves, was installed as chairman.Ronnie Radford kisses his boot after scoring his famous goal against Newcastle in the FA Cup in 1972
Keyte’s tenure was marked by financial problems and relegation to the
Conference in 2012 followed by a series of winding-up orders, including
one from former manager Martin Foyle over unpaid wages in May. Other
staff had gone unpaid, or been laid off.
At this level that meant
missing mortgage payments. Club photographer Steve Niblett sold his
memorabilia to help pay fellow employees. “I’d just transfer it to my
bank account and go round to people’s houses and give them the money,”
said Niblett, adding, “I don’t think David Keyte is a nasty bloke. I
think he’s just very incompetent.”
In April Hereford won at
Aldershot to preserve their Conference status. A large travelling
support put £600 in Niblett’s bucket to thank the players. That month
the supporters’ trust offered to buy the club for £1 and pledged
£220,000 to help clear the debt. Instead, Hereford announced that a
businessman, Tommy Agombar, had bought it for £2. Seven days after his
arrival, Hereford were expelled from the Conference for failing to clear
debt and deposit a £350,000 bond.
Supporters’ attention turned to
Agombar. They discovered that in 1987 he had been sentenced to 10 years
in prison for stealing lorries of mink skins, designer clothes, and
£100,000 of cigarettes.
“It’s not the vicar coming along to buy
the football club, is it?” said Keyte . “He was 27 years of age, with a
group of other lads who came up with an idea that they didn’t get away
with.” The conviction led to Agombar failing the Football Association’s
owners’ and directors’ test (ODT) . He was forced to sell his shares.
The
next chairman was Andy Lonsdale. His CV reveals he had held 21
appointments at 17 dissolved companies and spent six years as a
disqualified director. In 2008 he was convicted of dumping 600 lorry
loads of contaminated waste on green-belt land.
Fans also found
out that Agombar asked Herefordshire Council to transfer leases allowing
the development of areas around the stadium to a company under his
ownership. They feared he was more interested in developing the site
than the club, an accusation Agombar and Lonsdale deny but which grew
with the appointment of directors with interests in waste management and
the construction industry. One, Philip Peter Gambrill, the company
secretary of Savannah Construction Limited, was an associate of Alan
Gerald McCarthy, owner of Alpha Choice Finance Limited, the company to
whom Agombar had sold his shares.
“But that doesn’t mean anything,
does it?” said Lonsdale. “Philip introduced [McCarthy] to Tommy. Alan
buys distressed debt. Tommy needed to get rid of his loans and his
shares, and Alan was the only one willing to buy them at the time.”
Lonsdale
added: “The leases say that football has to be played at Edgar Street
forever. The fans have known that since day one.”
“That’s what the
leases and the covenant on the ground say, yes,” said Hereford United
Supporters Trust chairman Chris Williams, “but if you pay enough money
you can eliminate those conditions.”
The crisis united and
mobilised fans who marched, lobbied and, in July, called for a boycott.
Subsequently there have been more redundancies, a wholesale turnover of
playing staff, and a series of winding-up orders adjourned. The local
MP, Jesse Norman, became involved. The council sent officials climbing
over a fence at Edgar Street in an attempt to repossess the ground.
The
club are marooned mid-table in tier seven of the pyramid, the majority
of fans staying away. Last year’s average crowd was 1,758. This season’s
is 409. Some who do go have struck up a rapport with Agombar, who
bought a season ticket and watches most games.
Meanwhile McCarthy
was this month charged by the FA with acting as a club official without
taking the ODT. But Lonsdale, who has passed the test, said: “I’m not
going to give in. We’re here to win the war.”
Williams claimed he
told Agombar early in the season he would ask the Trust to call off the
boycott in exchange for a solicitor’s letter guaranteeing football would
continue to be played at Edgar Street. Williams alleged Agombar
replied: “Yes, you’ll have that in your email inbox by Monday.”
Williams
added, “I still haven’t received that letter,” so today, when Hereford
host Sutton United, Williams, like many other Bulls fans, will be
elsewhere.

Herefordshire Council say they are owed £3,000 by Hereford United currently.

The sum relates to legal fees, court costs and costs associated with the attempted repossession of Edgar Street in October. It is currently unclear when these sums are due for payment with the club liable for the costs under the terms of their leases.

The winding up petition for Hereford United (1939) is listed as the first case to be heard on Monday morning at the High Court (Companies Court) at 10.30am.

The case will be heard by Mr Registrar Jones.

UPDATE 4pm: There are currently 19 creditors attached to the winding up order.

For anyone interested the hearing will take place in:Room 17, Second Floor,
7 Rolls Building,
Fetter Lane,
London,
EC4A 1NL.

Located off Fetter Lane in the City of London the Rolls Building will
have Judicial expertise in areas such as asset recovery, banking and
financial services, company law, construction, insolvency &
reconstruction, intellectual property and patents, professional
liability, property, shipping, technology, trusts and many others.The Rolls Building:

Is the largest specialist centre for the resolution of financial, business and property litigation anywhere in the world

A centre of excellence for high value dispute resolution

Houses the combined High Court business, property and commercial
capability of the Chancery Division (including Bankruptcy and
Insolvency), the Admiralty and Commercial Court and the Technology and
Construction Court

Has 31 court rooms, including 3 ‘super
courts’ to handle the very largest international and national high value
disputes and 4 courts configured in ‘landscape’ format for multi party
cases

Has 55 consultation rooms, many are pre-bookable with a range of facilities

In court facilities for parties to use their own IT, including electronic presentation of evidence and cabled broadband

In court video conferencing facilities (Courts 4, 11, 15, 16, 19, 26)

Full WiFi connectivity throughout the building (BT Openzone)

Within 30 minutes of many of the world’s pre-eminent law firms and
chambers and accessible internationally through London City Airport,
London Heathrow, London Gatwick and London Stansted.

Hereford United are reported to be considering making an offer to Didcot striker John Mills

The 25 year old has scored 31 goals for the Evo-Stik Premier League side this season to date.

Manager Ian Concannon wants to keep Mills at the club but admits it could be difficult.

“Hereford put in a seven-day bid for him and they have now offered him a very good deal,” Concannon told the Oxford Mail.

“I think he is meeting them on Monday and the money they have offered him is very good.
“I don’t think there is anyone in the country who has scored 31 goals
by the end of November, so it would be a massive blow to lose him.
“But we’ll be having a chat with Millsy and our financial man to see if we can work out a way to keep him.
“We’ll just have to see whether he enjoys a two-hour commute going back and forth to Hereford each day, with all that traffic”

Former Bulls keeper Daniel Lloyd-Weston has joined Salford City on loan from Southport.

The former England C man has drifted out of the first team picture with the Sandgrounders since Martin Foyle left the club, and he has now linked up with the ambitious Evo-Stik Northern Division One North side.

Salford were taken over by Singapore billionaire Peter Lim and five members of the "Class of 92" - Phil & Gary Neville, Nicky Butt, Paul Scholes, and Ryan Giggs - who own 10% of the club each.

Salford are unsurprisingly big spenders in the division, with veteran ex-Chester striker Gareth Seddon claimed in the press to be earning £600 a week from the side three tiers below the Conference. They are currently third in the table, three points behind leaders Darlington 1883.

“Poochi” Van Poetsch, one of the regulars for the Fans Team, has restarted his boxing career with a little help from HUST.

The Lydney based middleweight will wear shorts bearing the HUST logo as he plies his trade across the country.

The 24 year old Light Middleweight had spent the summer wearing the HUST badge on his shirt on the football pitch, but had the badge on his shorts in London last week when he stepped up the weight classes and took on unbeaten Super Middleweight Darryll Williams.

He admits taking challenging fights to test himself, telling the press in January after taking on British and Commonwealth title challenger Curtis Woodhouse: “Curtis told me that when his promoter Dave Coldwell rang up to tell him who I was and that I’d been to Afghanistan he said: ‘Well, I’m not going to frighten him, am I?’ On paper he’s leagues ahead of me but I gave him plenty to think about in the first three or four rounds. But I broke my nose early on and that hampered my breathing.”

Poochi served in Afghanistan with his Rifles regiment. His next outing is scheduled for December 20th in Hull to take on another Super Middleweight.

With 39 days of the 42 day adjournment passed, there is still no announcement of investment from the club with the club having to tell the Court by tomorrow afternoon what it intends to do about the winding up petition.

It is now nearly three months since club chairman Andy Lonsdale told BBC Hereford and Worcester that investment would be put into the club within days, however an adjournment was granted a few days later without the investment appearing.

In October, a few days before the last court appearance, Lonsdale could not confirm whether the investment could be secured but they again escaped closure on a promise of new funds. In the aftermath of that court appearance Lonsdale told the BBC he would name new investors within seven days, a deadline he later extended to three weeks which was also not met.

Lonsdale asked outstanding football creditors to contact him two weeks ago, having had dozens dispute his claim that the club had paid all football creditors, however several have since spoken to Bulls News to note that their communication with Lonsdale has been slow or non-existent since despite messaging his advertised email address. None that have spoken to us have received further payments.Several national media outlets are preparing coverage on the club for Monday's hearing, including speaking to several of the unpaid former staff.

UITC remain only unbeaten team in the league after hard fought point at Burton Albion

This week made me realise the ups and downs of being a manager. A great point at the league leaders made me proud of the lads, but the run up to the game was as stressful as the last 10 minutes when we were hanging on. Monday morning and I was happy, I had a squad of 15 to take to Burton which is a luxury for us this season but by kick-off I was down to 12, and two of them had to speak to physio Jonny Evans in the warm-up! Firstly we lost Will Lawley through ill discipline on Monday morning and then at night it was clear Alex Lilwall wouldn't get over his strain from last week in time to play. Then Tuesday morning, captain Joe Davies injured a toe which turned out to be a fracture, seeing him out for probably 6-8 weeks. Losing 3 players that would of started the game was not a good start to huge game, but I was still confident we could win the game.

The game started brightly, Burton are a good team and caused us problems with something I've been trying to get us to do. As soon as they could they were trying to slide the ball in behind our defence for willing runners and if we weren't on our game they would of succeeded. After the initial 10 minutes we started to create chances, Robbie Trumper should of done better when well placed at the back post before Liam Taylor cleared off our line as Burton broke through our defence.Tom Gameson should of put us 1-0 up when Matty Owen did well to find him 6 yards out but Tom managed to miskick and Trumpers resulting effort was cleared off the line in a bright 20minute spell. Both teams had a few half chances before halftime and Benn Pugh had to make a superb save to keep it level as we entered halftime, tipping the ball onto the bar when it seemed they would score for certain.

We knew in the second half we would have to be strong in defence, and if we weren't we would of lost the game. Burton had the better of the second half, constantly putting our back 4 under pressure. Benn Pugh made another great save and Liam Taylor and Simon Morgan both had to clear off the line to keep us in the game. Going forward we were poor, clearances weren't getting past the halfway line and we lost too many individual battles in midfield which made the game hard for us. However we still could of nicked a goal with Matty Owen shooting straight at the keeper when clean through, Gameson mis timing a header when well placed and Carlos Moreira looking sharp coming on as sub after a lengthy injury. However it was down to our back 4 and Pugh in goal to get us the point, we need to learn how to battle further up the pitch but the rear guard was outstanding in the second half.

Mentions are due for Chris May and Matty James, who filled in for Joe Davies as centre half and captain, as both were different class yesterday and gave us our 6th clean sheet in 11 games this season, a great achievement! With hopefully a bigger squad in 2 weeks when we host Burton at home, I think we can improve and beat them and we will take a lot from this game being the first team to take points off them at home and the first team to stop them scoring this season! I'm proud of the lads for that

Now we turn our attention to getting everybody fit and ready for Chelsea away next week. playing against Chelsea at any level is a good experience and everybody will be looking forward to it. We are looking for a coach to take us as we only have a17 seater mini-bus available and to go there with intentions to win we need to take a full squad of 17, plus the coaching staff so if anyone can help with a 22 seater bus and driver please contact us at UITC either on Twitter at night @HUFCCommunity or call 07917412823 and ask for Steve, any help would be appreciated.

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

BN's London Correspondent watched Tuesday Night's Game between Chesham and Hereford.

On a wet night in Buckinghamshire the current Hereford United team were defeated 3-0 by Chesham United. The scoreline might have slightly flattered the hosts, but no one could deny them the three points in a game full of chances.Following a lovely pint of "The Generals" by the Marlow Brewery in the clubhouse overlooking the pitch, we took a place under the stand opposite the main stand to watch my first game of the season. The game got off to a frantic start with some neat touches between the Hereford front three causing the Chesham back line a number of problems. However it was the hosts who took the lead after eight minutes as Bell picked up a partial cleared free kick and cut back in from the left to fire it towards the goal where a deflection took it beyond the helpless Williams in the Hereford goal. After this set back for Hereford enjoyed plenty possession without unduly troubling the Chesham the back four, which were expertly marshalled by the experienced Darren Purse all night. Diop twice fired narrowly wide for Hereford and the wingers both fired a number of dangerous crosses without finding anyone. It was in fact Chesham who almost scored again as their striker Blake was fouled bearing down of the Hereford centre backs in the 40th minute. From the resulting free kick Williams did well to turn a fierce shot onto the bar, with the ball rebounding to safety.

1-0 h/t

At the start of the second half Gore, in Chesham's goal, had to be smart as he turned a scruffed shot past the post, but for the next 30 minutes the hosts took control of the game. The lively Thomas up front forced Williams into a number of saves before the pressure finally took its toll. A cross from the right, after a corner was cleared, controlled by the other Chesham centre Brown who then promptly smashed home from twelve yards giving the Hereford goalkeeper no chance after 58 minutes. After the second goal Chesham looked to hit Hereford on the break with their two strikers and a man deployed in behind them to exploit the space created by Hereford's 4-3-3 formation. Williams again proved Hereford's savior as he saved from Thomas and Blake on numerous occasion including a one-on-one the Chesham man should have buried. Then for the last 20 minutes, Hereford showed what could have been as they found another gear. A number of shots were directed at Chesham's goal forcing Gore into at least three very good saves and one header from a corner being cleared off the line at the back post. But it was Chesham who had the last say with more space appearing in the Hereford back line. Blake ran the ball out of his own half before switching the ball beautiful across to the other flank for Pearce. The winger then took the ball forward before playing a two-one with Thomas and putting himself clear on goal where he made no mistake from 15 yards with his left foot.

3-0 f/t

Chesham fully deserved their victory and the game was played with a good tempo with both sides looking to play a passing game. Overall I felt Chesham seemed a little more streetwise and Hereford a little naive. Out of the attendance of 232 I counted around 12 Hereford fans and I didn't see any Hereford "officials".

Herefordshire Council has released the following statement late this afternoon.

As stated on two previous occasions (4 August and 29 October), the
council’s General Overview and Scrutiny Committee will undertake a full
and thorough review on the process through which Herefordshire Council
and Hereford United Football Club (1939) Limited concluded the three
leases and development agreement relating to the Edgar Street ground
after all pending legal action against the club has been concluded.For the avoidance of doubt, Herefordshire Council neither runs nor owns Hereford United Football Club (1939) Limited.Councillor Sebastian BowenChairman of Herefordshire Council’s General Overview and Scrutiny Committee

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Former owner of Hereford United football
Club, Mr Tommy Agombar, has issued the following statement following the
errant publishing of recorded material claimed to be involving him.

The claims made in the whole article are false and totally refuted by Mr Agombar.

The recording purported to include him and others is entirely false and
he wishes it to be made clear that it is absolutely not his voice being
heard.

He is very disturbed that someone has produced this recording wrongly claiming that it is him.

He also wants to make clear that he intends to find out who the people
are that produced this recording, and also the person/s behind the web
blog that have published this grossly inaccurate material, in a manner
calculated to produce the result that people would believe this
recording to be him.

This episode along with a number of others making spurious claims
regarding Mr Agombar and Hereford United have now been passed to Lawyers
acting on his behalf and will be pursued vigorously.

Mr Agombar wishes to make clear to those individuals or groups carrying
out these actions that they will be identified, and the appropriate
legal sanction/s instigated, including involving the Police where
possible.

SaveEdgarStreet have responded to Hereford United chairman Andy Lonsdale anger at the 'social media campaign that is being conducted against (us)'

'For The Record'

The SaveEdgarStreet.com
blog is run by a team of fans. We only publish articles that are well
researched and factually correct. Our team meticulously research data
for all of our stories. This is passed onto our report authors for use
on the site. The vast majority of the information we have made available
is already in the public domain. Our researchers have simply mined this
data and our authors have repackaged it for our audience.We
have been in receipt of the voicemails for some time. We received them
anonymously. We spent a number of weeks assessing their validity.
Seeking evidence about their origin. Speaking to other supporters who
also received calls, texts and voicemails. It was only when we were
absolutely satisfied they were genuine that we prepared them for
release. We did not want to damage our credibility if they were later
proved to be a hoax. We even went as far to email a copy of the released
message to Andy Lonsdale on 7 November 2014. We asked for his views.
Andy declined to comment. We also note that yesterday’s statement did
not deny the validity of the voicemails. Make of that what you will.Tonight we invite Andy to respond to one question:Do you deny the voices on the recording are Tommy Agombar and yourself?We
await legal correspondence from the club. Nothing has been received to
date. As it stands our point of view is that we are within the law. If
we are not we will correct this straight away. We did not set up this
blog to cause trouble. We set it up to tell the truth. If the Club
reports the blog to the Police we will be happy to help them with their
enquiries. We will also be happy to discuss the full content of the
voicemails with them.It’s
interesting that Lonsdale is crying wolf about family details being
included on our blog. Perhaps he should have thought twice about asking
his wife and daughter to front insolvent companies for him if he didn’t
want this to happen. Their names have only been published because of
their business connections to Andy. All of this data is in the public
domain for anyone to access with the patience to look for it.Whilst
it is every husband and fathers right to protect their family maybe
Andy should think about the families that he has hurt. £9m of company
debt from Mr and Mrs Lonsdale will have hurt and possibly bankrupted
many individuals over the years with their unpaid bills. What about the
hurt he has caused to families nearby to Feltham Arena who have to
contend with their properties being flooded as a consequence of the
unauthorised waste dumping his company undertook? Perhaps he should
think about the young and vulnerable players being attracted to club who
are being paid so irregularly they couldn’t afford to pay for their
meals in Pizza Hut. Most significantly he should think of the people and
families that were bombarded with calls, abuse and DEATH THREATS
by individuals connected to the club. It is probably fair to say one or
two articles on a football blog come nowhere close to the misery and
fear that he and his associates have caused to other people.If Andy wants to reassure supporters that ‘they are not just here for the development’ then maybe he could explain the council emails we’ve released? Maybe he could explain why Tommy Agombar said ‘I don’t know nuffink about no leases’
outside Brockington on 3 June 2014 when his ‘football consultant’, Andy
Lonsdale, had already met with Council officials to talk about the
leases on 11 May 2014? Maybe he could ask club owner Alan McCarthy to
talk to fans at a Fans Forum rather than staying continually silent. If
he really wants to reassure fans then he should consider satisfying the
clubs creditors as he has continually promised since June. Even
sacrosanct football creditors are still awaiting their cash.There
are many more things we could say but we will save them for another
day. We will continue to shine a light on the goings on at Edgar Street.
We have many stories ready to release and many others being researched.
We will report anything that is relevant. We will not be cowed by
bullies.It
is 48 hours since the ‘the greatest cockney rip off’ was released to
the world. Since then over 3,500 people have listened to the clip
online. Many more thousands have heard it on BBC Hereford and Worcester.
There is more to come. Watch this space.We
appeal to all Bulls fans to stay UNITED. We must continue to work
together to do what it takes to oust the current regime. As a group we
are powerful. Lets continue to work together So we can get our club back
and #SaveEdgarStreet.Andy would do well to remember: football without fans is nothing.Freetown Kudos On behalf of the SaveEdgarStreet.com Team

Hereford United were due to speak to a solicitor today about claims that certain messages said to have come from former owner Tommy Agombar. (See saveedgarstreet.com)

Yesterday club chairman Andy Lonsdale spoke to BBC Hereford and Worcester and denied the messages were anything to do with Agombar.

Presenter Andrew Easton started the item thus: 'Hereford United chairman Andy Lonsdale says he and others running the club are victims of a smear campaign and today has denied allegations that former owner Tommy Agombar left an abusive message on a fans fans voicemail.'

Lonsdale said they were taking legal advice concerning that particular allegation.

It was further reported that they were planning to speak a solicitor (today).

"(We are) angry about the social media campaign that is being conducted against (us)," said Lonsdale told H&W.

"I could understand if we had raped and pillaged the club but we've done everything we can to keep it going and have ploughed money into it.

The team behind the SaveEdgarStreet blog say they will issue a response to the club's statement later tonight.

On Twitter they stated yesterday that they emailed club chairman Andy Lonsdale two weeks ago about the voicemail allegations, receiving no response despite having received answers to previous messages:

It's twelve years since the teams last met and that was in the FA Trophy. The first game was drawn but in the replay at Edgar Street the Bulls won 4-0.

Here's a look back:

Bulls cling on
for dear life

Chesham
United 2 - 2 Hereford United

Hereford United were lucky not to be
eliminated from the FA Umbro Trophy at the third round
stage today as Ryman League side Chesham United forced a
2-2 draw at their Meadow ground.

The Bulls had to endure a late period of
Chesham pressure and it was only down to some astute
goalkeeping of Matt Baker that the Conference hopefuls
got away with a draw.

Hereford made two changes to the side
that drew at Forest Green Rovers last weekend. The
suspended Scott Goodwin was replaced in midfield by Ian
Rodgerson, who made his three hundredth competitive
appearance for the club, and Jimmy Quiggin dropped to the
bench as Gavin Williams returned after injury in attack.
Chesham, managed by Bob Dowie, named former Hereford
attacker Paul Fewings in their starting line-up, and he
partnered the highly-rated Wayne Andrews up front.

The cup tie started with the two sides
appearing pretty even over the opening few minutes. Wayne
Andrews tested Matt Baker after five minutes following a
mistake by Tony James in defence, and six minutes later
player/coach Phil Robinson fired an effort wide from the
edge of the box concluding a good team move by the
visitors.

Paul Fewings fired wide on sixteen
minutes as Chesham attempted to find an early goal, and a
minute later Ian Rodgerson lobbed goalkeeper Delroy
Preddie at the other end - but also lobbed the crossbar.
Chesham's Lee Spiller smashed an effort wide before the
deadlock was broken after twenty four minutes.

A pass from Robinson released Gavin
Williams on the left hand side and the Welshman proceeded
to round the goalkeeper before, from an acute angle,
knocking the ball past two defenders on the line to hand
Hereford a slender but vital advantage.

The goal livened up proceedings in a cup
tie that had been entertaining to watch and both Paul
Parry and Phil Robinson tested Preddie in the Chesham
goal before the home side broke free. With ten minutes of
the half left, winger Richard Graham knocked a ball past
Matt Baker, who had had a mix-up with full-back Matt
Clarke, and the advancing Wayne Andrews ran onto it and
had the easy task of knocking it into an unguarded net.
Chesham had an equaliser which, to be fair, was deserved.

Andrews went close two minutes later when
John Shirley allowed him through, but he scraped the
effort wide and the scores appeared to stay level at the
break until Ian Rodgerson popped up in the last minute of
the half. A long ball from captain Ian Wright found
Rodgerson who controlled well and volleyed on the turn to
net from close range. The advantage had swung back in
Hereford's favour.

Bulls attacker Rob Elmes picked up a
knock in the first half and was removed at the break, to
be replaced by Danny Davidson. The second period was much
less exciting for the opening period with Chesham
dominating possession but causing few problems for the
Hereford back line. In fact, it was Hereford who came
closest to scoring on the hour when a corner met Ian
Wright on the back post, and his header was cleared off
the line by Mark Boyce. A minute later, Gavin Williams
shot over but ten minutes later, Chesham fought back.
Paul Fewings' header was caught by Matt Baker on the far
post on seventy minutes, and just two minutes later the
scores were level. Chesham broke on the counter attack
following a Hereford corner and Fewings lobbed the ball
over the advancing Baker to equalise.

The closing eighteen minutes were
extremely tense. Hereford looked lost and will have been
pleased just to get off the pitch. Chesham, on the other
hand, played wave after wave off attacks that tested
Baker and the nerves of everyone in the ground. Paul
Fewings and Wayne Andrews tested Baker's reactions on
seventy eight minutes before sustitute Victor Boyle-Renner
knocked a ball through Paul Parry's legs for Baker palmed
it away. A minute later, Chesham's last real attack saw
the ball drop to Andrews, but he couldn't capitalise on
the opportunity.

The relief on the faces of everyone to do
with Hereford United was evident to see when referee Mr.
F. Graham blew for full time. The Bulls would have had
few complaints had Chesham found a late goal but they
clung on for a replay, which will be held at Edgar Street
on Tuesday night, kick off 7.45pm.

No one player for the Bulls deserved the
man-of-the-match award. There were mistakes from each of
the four members of the defence, as well as goalkeeper
Baker, whilst the midfield and attack didn't perform
sufficiently to eliminate a side supposedly of lower
grading. Had one not known which league Chesham played in,
they could have been excused for thinking the teams were
on a level par.

The tie was superbly entertaining for a
neutral but frustrating in different ways for those
involved in the sides competing. The Hereford support
probably made about half of those in the crowd of 831.

HUST are pleased to say that they have helped Hinton FC by sourcing some scaffolding poles to add to their Broomy Hill site.

HUST Board member Mick Loader with Alan Watkins of C Jones Scaffolding and Graham Andrews of Hinton FC at the UITC match last Wednesday

Following a request for help from Hinton Chairman Graham Andrews, committee member Mick Loader was able to source a number of 3 metre scaffolding poles that will help Hinton to stop their footballs escaping their ground during games.

Having already sourced netting donated by Cargill for the task, the Broomy Hill side asked HUST if they could source the poles to hang the netting from, and Mick was able to use his extensive contacts to call on Alan Watkins, the Business Development Manager of C Jones Scaffolding, to get hold of the poles free of charge with the company also delivering the poles to site without cost.

HUST continues to support the local football pyramid, without which there would be no ability to sustain a professional club within Herefordshire. Over the past six months HUST have supported eight local sides with Fans Team games, sponsorship, and promotion that builds the grassroots base of football in the area and strengthens the foundations that Edgar Street can stage professional matches upon and enhances the opportunities for local footballers to progress to the professional game.

Monday, November 24, 2014

The following statement from Hereford United was released earlier this evening.

The Chairman, Directors and related Club Officers wish to make the following statement.

The last week has seen an increase in abuse and unfounded and
inaccurate allegations against the above Officers of Hereford United FC.
The weekend just gone has seen an increase in such abuse, particularly
involving family members of the above Officers.

We have as a new Board tried to be as patient as possible hoping that as
the season progressed and clear evidence became available for the
supporters that we are not 'just here for the development' that these
issues would calm down and common sense and decency would prevail.

This has unfortunately not been the case, indeed without mentioning a
number of issues directly, it is obvious that the campaign of derogatory
publications and subsequent distress caused to certain individuals is
increasing.

This has left us with no alternative to seeking recourse through legal means.

We as a Board therefore give notice to those behind these campaigns that
we have collated and passed on to our Lawyers where appropriate, and
the Police where required, a number of complaints in consequence of this
behaviour.

The Hereford United Supporters Trust (HUST) is deeply concerned that, with just a week until Hereford United return to Court for the 11th time this year, there has been little sign of the investment promised to the Court five weeks ago.

The Club Chairman, Andy Lonsdale, told supporters in a statement on November 7th to the club’s official site that “We as owners have secured investment”. On November 11th, a piece in the matchday programme stated “we have investment almost secured”, but there have been no further public statements since with the clock again ticking down.

HUST have repeatedly called on the club’s Directors and Owners to issue a clear public statement regarding the future of the club, a call reiterated when Andy Lonsdale rang HUST’s Vice Chairman on Thursday, and a call we again make today.

The whole fanbase of the club would dearly love the side they have supported through generations of their families to continue. This can only happen through substantial investment like the one continually promised by Andy Lonsdale.

We call on Andy Lonsdale, and the owners of the club, to urgently make a clear and concise statement on the ownership of the club and the pathway to clear debts in time for next Monday and move the club towards future prosperity.

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